Reap the Whirlwind
by Ozzallos
Summary: Going back was bound to make ripples, but soon that would be the least of his concerns.
1. Chapter 1

**Reap the Whirlwind  
**By Ozzallos

**Chapter ONE**

_Fire._

_Everything was burning. Houses. The land they sat upon. Its people. All burning The sky was nothing but blackened smoke as the whole of Konoha burned around him, sending the glowing embers up into the night sky as a last tribute to the passing of everything he held dear. His special people were dying._

_Not many of them were left now. Many had been burned to the ground even as his dream burned to the ground. All of Konoha was their farewell pyre, and by dawn he suspected there would be little left to commemorate their passing. There would be nothing left of the Hidden Village of the Leaf, making him the Hokage of little more than smoldering scar upon the Earth._

_Naruto Uzumaki shook his head, jaw clenched. That was not the way of things, and there was precedent to consider. A Hokage of the Leaf did not out live his village, a tradition outlined by the previous six. A Hokage died in battle and always took the bad guy with him. The blond smiled grimly, baring a toothy fang as he looked down upon his home from the Hokage monument. There was nothing left, and the word to scatter had been given. If anybody survived the night, they would at least bare the memory that was the greatness of the Will of Fire._

_Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage of Konoha drew a simple kunai and exposed his abdomen to open air. Chakra coursed through the seal etched upon his belly eagerly, as if sensing what was about to happen. His village would die this night, but he would ensure it passed into legend. _

_The last Hokage of Konoha began to draw his blade across the seal._

* * *

**P**ain lanced through the awareness of Naruto Uzumaki, causing the blond Jinchuuriki to bolt upright, sheets flailing. After a moment futile struggle, the sheets prevailed, entombing the young man like a some high level ninjutsu that caused him to roll off the bed and the intervening meter's worth of space to the ground. A healthy thud and a painful squawk of surprise accompanied his landing, prompting his struggling ceased as the waking world fully claimed him. A pair of blue eyes flicked upon, rapidly darting to and fro to assess the situation that had jarred him back to consciousness. After a handful of seconds , several facts became immediately apparent.

There was no fire. He was in a room. It was light outside, as evidence by the rays of sun coursing through the a pair of closed blinds. And last, but not least, Naruto Uzumaki, the seventh Hokage of Konoha, had fallen out of a bed.

Naruto sighed, and began to untangle himself from the sheets that had ensnared the high ranking nin. He would have seen fit to reward them for their efforts if it had not been his very person they had captured, and set about the task of ascertaining his whereabouts. He stumbled about in the semi-dark toward the blinding rays and found the curtain pull easily enough, giving the line a good yank. After another moment of sheer blindness courtesy of the dawns early light, his eyes adjusted. The sight caused him to stumbled back with wide eyes.

It was Konoha.

Konoha in all its glory, untouched by fire, marauders or the like. It was the Konoha etched indelibly into his childhood memories, and this view in particular was well known to him. His gaze turned away from the delightfully chaotic urban sprawl and back to the room itself as two emotions warred with one another. There was hope, of course. Hope that his village was alive after everything he had seen and lived through. Hope that beyond that very window his friends were still alive. Hope that competed with the icy dread that was working its way up his spine as he turned back to the room itself.

The icy dread spiked as he took in the details. The accommodations were small and looked as though they had been through their own minor skirmish. Clothing lay in disarray, spread haphazardly across the room and what little furniture that graced it. Spent bowls of instant ramen lined the only table central to the room itself and there was, of course, his nemesis, the bed, crowned by a green froggy night cap.

Naruto's cheek twitched.

It was his old dorm. The nin stepped through it carefully, as if he were traversing sacred ground. It was also impossible. The entire block had been leveled six years ago for new construction. He had watched the demolition nins take the building down while he stood by as a last memorial to his childhood residence before it was raised. If that wasn't enough, the entire district had been destroyed the night of the final invasion, yet somehow he was standing in that very spot right here and now. Naruto glanced into the small bathroom with its peeling, lime green wallpaper. Sure enough, his old goggles were hanging off the mirror, waiting for a new day to start. His own adult reflection stared back and the last Hokage of Konoha tried to smile, but couldn't quite allow the emotion to surface.

None of it was real. None of it _could_ be real. It was all utterly impossible._ Genjutsu, _was the first thing to enter his mind as he continued to survey the set that was his old academy apartment. No detail was out of place, though he readily admitted that the fine details of those days were lacking. Still, it was nearly as perfect as he cared to remember.

_Or sharingan,_Naruto frowned, which was even worse. There were still a few sharingan users out there, rare as it was. They might have been scrounged up for the final battle just keep him occupied. The two that he personally knew of, however, were dead. The blond nin suppressed the painful memory, and concentrated on the here and now, but it was all perfect.

_Too perfect._Naruto clenched a fist.

"Kai."

He pressurized an enormous amount of chakra- enough to dispel an entire battlefield of genjustu -and the very air wavered with its release. The apartment remained. Naruto waited for something to change. Anything. A minor, insignificant detail he could cling to. After a full five minutes he sighed again.

"Sharingan it is, then." He decided and proceeded to make his exit. Sooner or later the Sharingan user would make his intentions known. They always did. Naruto returned to the window and slid it open, slipping purposefully out and off the edge, into the alleyway below. He hit the ground lightly while grumbling something about the universally arrogant pricks before steeling himself for a trip down memory lane. Strolling out of the alleyway, he was greeted by the early morning bustle of businesses readying for the new day. Pedestrians passed by casting speculative glances at his person as he emerged from the alley, but paid them little attention since they more than likely little more than a Sharingan constructs themselves.

Naruto's own white and orange flame embroidered trench coat shifted with the slight morning breeze as he, in turn, took in his surroundings. The exact details had been lost to over a decade's worth of memory, but nothing seemed out of place. Instead of worrying further, the seventh Hokage picked a direction at random and began to walk. The smells and sights reminded him of better times, and now he couldn't help but to produce a slight smile. He caught sight of the Hokage Monument and stopped, studying it with a cocked head. If there was any doubt as to when in his memories he was, the monument itself clinched it.

Four heads. No more, no less.

_And what exactly would I be doing today? _The blond mused to himself. He still had the goggles back at the dorm, which meant he wasn't a ninja quite yet. _The academy?_ He posed the question to himself, though the answer was all but certain._ Maybe I'll even find myself pranking ol' Iruka, _Naruto snorted and altered his course to cross the street.

Iruka was, of course, dead, but the Shichidaime maintained the smile for his memory regardless. If there was Sharingan bullshit to be had, he'd find out what they were after when he turned them into fine paste for the unnecessary trip down memory lane. If it was to cause him pain, his mystery opponent was definitely succeeding in that. Every step he took through the idyllic environment of his mind's eye was just another reminder of everything- everybody -he had lost.

_Will have to do better than that, _Naruto shook his head. At twenty six years of age, he was well versed in the art of loss and hardly needed a Sharingan guided tour to help him relive it. The blond loosened the dark blue ballistic armor residing underneath the trench coat and felt around his stomach, then smiled._ Missed a detail, bitch._

He could feel, if not see the scar running across the seal which all but confirmed the artificiality of his environment. The discovery, however, did not prompt his tormentor to reveal himself and so Naruto Uzumaki continued his trek down the side streets of Konoha, taking a shortcut well worn within his memory to the academy. He was just stepping out onto another main street before the turn to the school itself when his blood ran cold. Naruto froze as his blue eyes locked onto another figment of his imagination.

_Pink._

Naruto could only stare helplessly as a thirteen year old Sakura Haruno strolled the sidewalk toward him, obliviously chatting with another girl friend. If she was a Sharingan driven figment, she was one of t the most potent his captor could have chosen to incite. Naruto suppressed the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. She too was dead. Like the rest. Both girls drew within ten meters and noticed him for the first time, pausing in their conversation while wondering exactly why he was staring. Both picked up their pace to pass by and just as she did do, Naruto broke.

"Sakura."

The girl stopped and turned, still seemingly wary of his very presence. Naruto turned back to them slowly and took a step in the pink haired girl's direction. Her detail was correct in every way he cared to imagine her at this age, from the dark pink cheongsam tunic to the innocence held in her green eyes. He took another step and the girl tensed slightly. He bowed to his knee. Wariness turned to curiosity.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." He apologized slowly as the memories came biting back. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep the promise of a lifetime. I'm sorry couldn't protect everybody."

The girl's mouth opened, but nothing came out since little the man had said actually made sense. The blond closed his eyes to chase back the tears and managed some measure of control, then reached out to touch her-

"Remove your hand from the child." Wind gusted around him and five shadows instantly surrounded them, blurring into the masked forms of five combat ready ANBU ninja. Naruto's hand froze and the girl jerked away. "Miss Haruno, please continue along to school."

The now thoroughly skittish girl and her friend looked from nin to nin, then back to the blond, whose own hand dropped lifelessly to his side in defeat. Sakura looked back up to the ANBU in a cat mask, who stepped aside for her with a nod. Naruto watched her stumble away at a brisk pace with her friend, drawing back up to his full height with a sigh. "And let the mind games begin."

"Name, rank and village." Another of the anonymous ANBU ordered, this one's mask sporting a smallish horn protruding from its forehead.

"Naruto Uzumaki, Genin, Leaf." Naruto chuckled, casting an amused look at the nin in question. The seventh Hokage paused, cocking his head introspectively. "Actually, I don't think I've taken the genin test yet." He looked at another ANBU. "Can I change my answer?"

"Where is Uzumaki?"

Now that cause Naruto to outright laugh. "Blond hair? Blue eyes? Fond of practical jokes?" He took his time, as if concentrating intensely. His hand came up, fingers snapping in sudden revelation. "...Haven't seen him."

"What is your purpose here?" The question came from a different ANBU, and Naruto turned to face the cat masked nin.

"Can anyone_ really_ know what their purpose _here _is?" Naruto shrugged, spreading his hands openly while turning a simple interrogation into a question probing the existential meaning of life. The cat masked ANBU looked to her counterpart, who in turn nodded.

_"Take him."_

"I knew you'd see it my way," The Shichidaime smiled and sidestepped the initial lunge aimed at placing a restraining seal on his back. He spun out of the ANBU's attack and chopped his wrist as the nin struggled against over compensation and momentum. He instantly lost the restraining seal in hand and took the simultaneous leg sweep. The masked nin was quick on the recovery and attempted to handspring out of the sudden reversal of his offensive, but his opponent was faster. Naruto's blurring elbow came down on the man's back hard, almost embedding his attacker into a crater of his own making.

Three more nins engaged and Naruto was already sliding out of the ANBU ring, his white cloak flailing as he took the closest one hand to hand. A kunai flashed out and Naruto dodged and grabbed the offending hand, using it to parry the other slash at his right flank. Metal shrieked with the contact and the blond pulled his ANBU combatant fully through, breaking his wrist with the pass and taking the kunai for himself. The man tumbled into his teammate, allowing Naruto to concentrate on his third attacker for the moment.

A roundhouse kick blazed in just as he disengaged from his first two opponents, but the blond caught the heel and redirected the momentum up and back. The spin kick instantly destabilized, but like his counterparts, the ANBU was a professional. He tumbled out of the counter and landed in a crouch, his hands instantly flashing through seals.

"None of that, now."

A small bluish ball formed in Naruto's left hand, and he powered the technique to about a quarter of its full potential before releasing it at nearly point blank range. The ANBU shock trooper took one second too many in deciding whether to complete the sequence or roll out, and thus took the technique in full. The Rasengan owner didn't even bother to watch the results and spun back around to deflect a fireball with the back of his hand, decimating part of the street before charging its originator.

"You would think I would have conjured more of a challenge for my own illusion of self loathing and torture," Naruto quipped as he stepped into the man's attack range and thrust a singular palm out at him. It seemed to come up short, but aura contained within the palm distorted the air pressure around it briefly before that made contact with the ANBU's body armor vest. The thick material instantly flattened with the intangible impact, sending its recipient tumbling hard down the street.

He turned to the final active combatant with a shrug. "The again, maybe this _is_my idea of self loathing and torture."

Steel hissed at his back and he glanced back to the cat masked nin, who had thus far declined combat. One of two katana strapped to her back cleared its sheath and she gave it an experimental spin in her left hand. Sunlight flashed through its arc and she buried the tip into the stone cobbled street before her. She raked the katana sideways to her left to clear it for the initial stroke. To her right, the ANBU with a broken wrist scrambled up and fished into one of his vest pockets, retrieving a pair of tagged kunai. Two of their comrades remained inert, evening Naruto's odds down to three versus one.

"Of course, the smart money says you're the quick reaction team delaying me until reinforcements can arrive, right?" The cat ANBU didn't respond, but he continued his musings anyway. "Maybe a squad or two from Heavy Intervention being so close to the Academy and all?"

"Almost."

A voice at his back replied and a smile crept across his lips. It was a voice he would recognize anywhere, and he hadn't even sensed the arrival. _Nice to know he's still got it, _Naruto turned around with that same grin, noting the central figure flanked by a new wave of ANBU perched upon the rooftop overhead, weapons drawn. He was an old man clad in his own white and red cloak and an overly wide kasa sitting atop his head. He was also a man that existed solely in his fondest recollections.

Naruto Uzumaki gave the man a nonchalant wave. "Heya Jii-san!"

* * *

"**A**nd exactly how long have you been in Konoha?"

Naruto sniffed with amusement at that question, looking around the office and seeing every scroll and every book exactly as he remember it. _Organized chaos, _he labeled it and continued his tour. The Third Hokage of Konoha cleared his throat, returning the blond's attention to the here and now. He shrugged. "Your Konoha or _my_konoha?"

The old man favored Naruto with a patient, but unyielding serious look, tapping the ashes out of his kiseru as he conducted the interrogation personally. "_My_Konoha."

"Mmm, about an hour now." Naruto nodded, earning a dry look from Sarutobi.

"And before that?" He pushed as the man before him found something else in his office to study. He was all but certain the stranger would overturn his entire office in curiosity if there weren't six ANBU guards confining the space his attention wandered.

"I told you already: _My_Konoha." The Uzumaki stressed and rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, this has got to be the lamest Sharingan mind fuck to date."

"This wouldn't be the first time you've mentioned the Sharingan since we've brought you into custody," The elder of the pair confirmed evenly. "You would have us believe that you've been affected by it in some way?"

"Well you're here, aren't you?" Naruto shook his head, following the simplest line of logic. "Either I've travelled back in time or I'm talking to myself, which is more likely, old man?"

"Then you still maintain you're Naruto Uzumaki." It was less of a question and more confirmation, to which Naruto crossed his arms and stared back at the Hokage. Sarutobi had to admit the resemblance was uncanny, and it wasn't a jutsu of any sort. Still, coincidences in the ninja world got you killed and he wasn't about to put any weight on this one either. It was a plot. Or a trap. Or some other ruse that they were going to root out sooner or later; especially if it had to do with the Fourth's own son and that which was sealed within as missing. "Then, 'Naruto', we have a thirteen year old boy missing. Perhaps you can help us with that?"

"Not unless you've got a good shrink." Naruto threw the man a cheeky smile, then frowned. "Look Jii-san, it's been really good seeing you again, but this Sharingan dumbass is wasting my time. I've got stuff to..." An assortment of weapons cleared their sheaths as the blond turned toward the door to confront his ANBU handlers. "...do. Right. The hard way it is, then."

Now it was the Sandaime's turn to frown. He had in his office what was by all rights a skilled and powerful ninja; easily a jounin or better if the initial burst of chakra they had felt an hour ago was any indication, facts likewise backed up by the application of force to the initial ANBU quick reaction unit. The burst of chakra triggering the initial alert had the teams up early resetting all the wards it had triggered, and now that same person was rapidly contemplating further violent options.

_Genjustsu trauma?_ The Professor theorized, having spent more than enough time in the field to have seen the symptoms for himself. The victims were normally so mentally damaged that they could no longer differentiate the technique from reality, creating a paranoid schizophrenicthat simply didn't know which way was up. Nin suffering the disorder normally went on insane killing sprees jumping at every shadow or at very least had to be removed from active duty. _He's been amiable so far. Perhaps humoring him..._

The Professor cleared his throat again. "You must understand, this is all very difficult to believe."

Naruto paused, laughing. "Well, you _are_ a figment of my imagination, so of course it's hard for you to believe since_ I_find it hard to believe."

Sarutobi arched an eyebrow at the thoroughly twisted logic, but conceded the point none the less as it seemed to have distracted the young man. "Some proof would be helpful."

"I'm sure it would," Naruto nodded, likewise humoring the Sharingan construct before him. Still, it offered him a way to possibly trip the illusion up further. Having been stripped of his body armor, the next part came easily and he pulled up his black and minimally orange striped shirt. "Recognize your work, old man?"

Sarutobi looked up into the humorous glint of the young man's blue eyes then focused on the nin's stomach with a squint. His eyes slowly widened as his study traced the outer circumference of the seal and its hand painted symbols. He most certainly _did_recognize his own work, but that work had been severely modified. It now branched out to other portions of the blonde's body for purposes that would remain unknown without further study.

He looked back up at the smiling man. "Impossible."

"Now it's my turn to play twenty questions." Naruto snorted, tracing the seal with one index finger. "You get to tell me who did what."

The Third blinked as he parsed exactly what the young man was asking, and plied his intellect to the task. Aside from the long scar of newly healed skin running across the seal, his work was immediately evident. His study flicked outward along the seal's edges and found a pattern that differed from his, spiraling away from the original work. Sarutobi recognized that as well with no small shock.

"Jiraiya?"

_"Keeeep _going." Naruto nodded and the Hokage turned back to the task, tracing his own student's work outward. The toad Sannin's seal abruptly terminated- overwritten in some instances -and new seal work began. While he could decipher it, the author was unknown to him. He looked up at the person who was rapidly beginning to look like an older version of Naruto with each passing second, and then back to the seal structure without a clue.

"I don't know." The Hokage shook his head, causing Naruto to cock his head.

"Are you sure you don't know?" The Shichidaime blinked as a flaw in his master plan to unravel the Sharingan matrix surfaced. His brow scrunched, thinking the matter over. "Because I'm pretty sure you should know since I know."

"Naruto..." Sarutobi hesitated with the name as he was also uncertain of the ground they now walked. "You are not under a genjutsu or the Sharingan. The way things are now, that is simply impossible."

"Yeah, might want to talk to Danzo about that," Naruto perceived the veiled message loud and clear: That there was only one Sharingan user in the village and that he hadn't even activated his yet. Still, he decided to throw a stone into the pond just to see what would happen. "I hear he knows a thing or two about the Sharingan."

Sarutobi stilled, already having his own suspicions about the man concerning other events surrounding him. Now those suspicions were now on high alert if he was connected to this man. "_What_does Danzo know about that, exactly?"

"Dammit, you should know that too." Naruto frowned, scratching his head. The Third glanced over to a ninja and nodded briefly. A single ANBU instantly disappeared, even as the blond before them puzzled over his predicament. Naruto noticed nin leave and fixed the Hokage with a stare. "You really don't know, do you?"

The old Hokage sighed. "I know a great many things, but your very existence confounds me if the evidence written on your very body is any indication. Perhaps we should go about this from a different angle."

Naruto watched as the village leader metered out another dose of tobacco from a small silver case and loaded it into his pipe, lighting it with a mere snap of the fingers. He studied the Sharingan construct's activities for any intrinsic flaw but found none. He shrugged. _Anything to get this game over with._"What do you have in mind?"

"Things that I know that you should not," Sarutobi thought the matter through, then nodded as it passed his own internal logic.

"Which would either make you the real thing or the Sharingan dope himself," Naruto grinned, liking the new direction they were taking. "Let's do this jii-san."

Sarutobi would have groaned with a new application of Naruto's favorite name if not for the fact that his gambit had unexpectedly just put him on very dangerous ground. If his nebulous theory didn't satisfy the man in front of him, there was only one way this was set to end. The Hokage posed his next suggestion carefully. "Ask me something you've been curious about but have no actual knowledge of."

"Hmmm... Huh..." Naruto began to pace his ANBU confined space, thinking the conundrum over. He had to hand it to the old man, if in fact he was real in the first place. Of course, the entire point of the illusion was to make the victim believe in the first place, so there was the very real possibility that it was his own subconscious supplying bullshit in lieu of real information. _But I'll know that the instant it drops from his mouth_, Naruto reasoned, assuming he knew himself and the old man better than the idiot trapping him. Something behind the old Hokage caught Naruto's eye and a crafty smile surfaced. "All right. Got it."

The Third nodded patiently and Naruto pointed to the table behind him. "How the fuck does that thing work?" The graying man blinked and glanced behind him, finding the only artifact of interest instantly and leaned back to retrieve it.

"This?"

"Yes, that!" Naruto confirmed, now becoming somewhat agitated as he referred to the crystal ball in hand. The blond continued to fume about his experience with it. "I swear I tried everything to get that chunk of glass to work after I found it. Ended up using it as a paper weight for scrolls."

"You used the Eye of Urna _as a paperweight?_" The Sandaime favored the blond in front of him with a dry look. Naruto shrugged and waited. Sarutobi shook his head in disappointment, all but being convinced against his will that the young man in front of him had to be Naruto... as impossible as it seemed. But it certainly seemed like something he would do. The Third took a breath. "The eye is a chakra lens fused with a fuinjutsu seal that tracks any specified chakra signature."

"Alright, and how does it do that?" Naruto pressed his own inquiry; a question that the Third answered easily.

"A corresponding fuinjutsu seal is placed on the target or in the general area to be viewed," The older man explained, taking a puff from his kiseru and letting the smoke from his exaltation curl into the air. "The seal feeds off the target's chakra, allowing a viewable radius within the eye of approximately ten meters. The added bonus is that unless the seal is found, it is completely undetectable..."

"...since it uses the target's own chakra, as opposed to generating its own," The blond arched an eyebrow, admiring the simplicity of the device. "Alright, I can see that. How'd you use it to track me all the time, then? I could lose every ANBU between here and Ichiraku's until you got involved, and I'm pretty damn sure I never had a seal stuck to my ass, even back then."

"Not your ass, exactly." The graying village leader chuckled for the first time since their meeting. He pushed the Eye of Urna and its resting cushion onto the table between them and touched it with both hands, feeding it a token amount of chakra. The chakra lens fogged up, then cleared after a moment to reveal an aerial view of the very room they stood in with Naruto himself as the focus. The blond blinked. "Though it would go a long way toward explaining why it focused on you instead of the boy I sought when I called upon Naruto Uzumaki's chakra signature."

Naruto stared in wonder, bending down to peer at the Eye even as the image within showed him bending down to get a better look. He glanced back up at the ceiling. There was, of course, nothing there and he looked back, then scrutinized the man who was the closest thing to a father figure he had ever known when something in his explanation clicked. "Alright, I know I just got here and I know I don't have a seal on me...?"

Sarutobi pulled a sheet of paper and a brush from his desk and dipped the fine hair tip into an ink well, then painted a flowing symbol onto the paper. Naruto's eyes widened fully, and his left hand drifted to the complex seal network inscribed on his very flesh. He knew the symbols there by heart and he knew that was one of them; quite literally embedded within the first generation containment seal that the man before him had drafted by his very hand.

"Jii-san, you crafty son of a bitch," Naruto breathed. He watched as the old man leaned back with a smile upon hearing the rounded compliment, taking a long drag from his pipe even as the blond determined the ramifications of what he was seeing. It was not only plausible and workable, but completely outside of his own methodology. The Third's usage of the eye while combining its fuinjutsu seal within the containment seal reeked of the old man's simplistic elegance; an elegance that would never have occurred to himself.

That was the key.

"This isn't a Sharingan," The young man stated, allowing the slightest measure of awe to creep into his voice. Sarutobi shook his head.

"No, it is not."

"I'm in the past." He moved to the next point of contention, shaking his head at impossibility the very idea represented.

"_That _is still open to debate," The Third's good cheer faded with the very idea. It was impossible, of course, but the Eye of Urna confirmed the presence of the target seal, which he himself had painted on one and one person only. There was also the fact that _this _Naruto looked very much like the one he knew, save older; if not in his twenties. _And if this one is here, then where is his younger counterpart? _The Professor broached the more disturbing question. _Assuming it was all true to begin with_.

Another heavy sigh caught up to him. And Sarutobi put forth the last test he could think of. "One last thing."

Naruto broke from his own introspective as the man behind the desk folding his hands at his lips and leveled his best 'stare through your soul' look at him. "At age four, you pulled a prank in this very office. What was it?"

Naruto blinked at the out of the blue question, then smiled. "The ol' bubblegum on the seat trick."

Sarutobi frowned. "What _flavor_was it?"

The smile blossomed into a full blown grin. "Trick question. I must have chewed five different packs of every flavor just to ensure the seat was fully covered."

The Third Hokage maintained his stare for a moment before abruptly deflating, mentally drained by the implications. "Dammit. This shouldn't even be possible."

"Welcome to my world," Naruto Uzumaki nodded sympathetically even as the shock of potential time travel still wracked his brain.

"And little Naruto?"

The elder Naruto's jaw clenched with the unexpectedly murky question. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. "I don't know. I woke up in my old bed, the one that's on the other side of town even as we speak. He wasn't there."

"Is there anything else out of the ordinary?" The Hokage questioned in a nearly blind attempt to probe the length and breadth of the temporal breach. "Anything that seemed off?"

"Nothing." Naruto replied plainly. "Hell, I was even watching for it since I thought I was under the Sharingan."

"Hokage!" A shadow dropped onto the balcony beyond his office. Sarutobi turned his full attention to the ANBU nin's return.

"Report."

"Danzo Shimura's estate is fully engulfed." The armor clad trooper kneeled before the village's supreme commander. "The fire corps are containing the blaze, but Danzo himself is nowhere to be found."

Hiruzen stared for a moment, barely able to comprehend the sudden turn of events, then turned back to the young man who returned his look. "Something's changed. This didn't happen last time."

The Third Hokage of Konoha grimaced and turned back to the ANBU presence guarding Naruto. "Find him."

With a gust of wind, Sarutobi and Naruto suddenly found themselves alone, and the old man leveled a serious gaze on the blond. "What is going on? What about him and the Sharingan?"

Naruto's gaze grew equally serious, and for the first time the Hokage could see the adult the child he knew had become. The blond pulled over a chair now that he wasn't under tight guard and sat in it, leaning forward.

"Might want to get a drink for this one, old man," He returned soberly. "It all goes downhill from here."

* * *

**I**t took another full hour and several intervening questions to relate just what had gone so horribly wrong. It was a thoroughly twisted tale of lies, deceit, assassination and corruption; not to mention Konoha facing down an army of clones, the undead and s-class nukenin mercenaries all seeking to rip the heart out of the ninja alliance.

Sarutobi stopped him, staring skeptically.

"An army of clones and risen undead?" He arched an eyebrow, watching the blond across from him simply nod. The Third pinched the bridge of his nose. "This sounds like bad fiction."

"Wish it was, Jii-san." The Uzumaki confirmed with heavy emotion. "Madara had been planning this shit for a long time, systematically sending adversaries our way to weaken us, while sowing the seeds of chaos in the other villages. We got the alliance together, but couldn't get it strong enough fast enough. Too much time spent bickering and cleaning our own houses. He took us apart, piece by piece."

"And Kakashi was Hokage for this?" The elder of the two confirmed and Naruto nodded again.

"After Tsunade and after Pein's own invasion attempt." Naruto continued filling in the details. "After Danzo tried his own hand at taking control of the alliance. That's when Madara went for the end game, launching random attacks against the allies and forcing us to respond to one fire after another."

_Tsunade. _That, more than Kakashi becoming hokage illustrated just how bad things had gotten. The woman had sworn herself never to set foot in Konoha again as long as she lived, and if she had come back... "And then?"

"And then we found that army of clones and resurrected nins camping outside our doorstep." The young man snorted derisively. "They laid siege to us, old man. Damn near three years worth of it. With our forces split across half the goddamn alliance, we could never bring enough firepower to bear to decisively break it. Personally, I think Madara just got tired of waiting one day and kicked it off himself."

Sarutobi poured himself another full cup of sake and began to partake of it. By his count, that would make _three_ separate invasions since the Nine Tails event, and _even that_seemed to line up with what this Naruto was describing to him: A systematic plan to deplete Konoha of resources and manpower until such time as it could be decisively wiped off the map.

"They rolled us, old man." Naruto continued bitterly. "The clones would have been manageable, but the 'talent' they had resurrected was more than enough to keep the bulk of our remaining forces occupied all by itself. The clones reinforced them and then Kabuto rode in on that giant two headed snake of his."

Naruto paused introspectively. "Speaking of which, I'd suggest you go and grab him right now."

Sarutobi blinked, alarm spreading across his face that such a dangerous nin was roaming the streets of Konoha unchecked. "He's... _available_to be grabbed? Isn't he-"

Naruto held a pernicious grin. "Not yet he's not. Did I mention he was the snake-bastard's double agent?"

_Snake-bastard._There was only one of those he knew of. The Professor snapped his fingers and an ANBU guard flickered into view beside Naruto. The older leader turned back to Naruto. "Full name?"

"Yakushi, Kabuto," Naruto relayed. "Posing as a genin right now but he's hiding something closer to tokubetsu jounin skills. He's got mad regeneration abilities and is adept in the use of chakra scalpels. Don't take him lightly."

Hearing that he was in league with Orochimaru made the Hokage's next decision easy, and he turned back to the ANBU. "Two full containment teams. Detain Yakushi-san for interrogation. Have Ibiki see to it personally."

The ANBU bowed and disappeared once more to carry out his instructions.

_It's almost unfair,_ Naruto thought to himself, but dismissed the ridiculous thought even as it manifested itself. He was already guilty of high treason in the here and now, let alone what he would do when left to his own devices. _Let the asshole burn, _the blond growled within the privacy of his own thoughts, returning to the matter at hand. "Where was I?"

"The third invasion." Sarutobi prompting, not missing the edgy glint residing in the young man's eyes.

"That's right." Naruto picked up where he left off. "I was about the only one who had the ability to take Kabuto and his snake, while Kakashi went after Madara. The theory was that decapitating the invasion commanders would make it easier to clean up the rest, but even that was bordering on impossible. Skilled as sensei was, he just couldn't match a natural Sharingan user nearly three times his age and experience. He was getting his ass handed to him while I was locked in a stalemate with Kabuto and his S-rank bodyguards. Good ol' Sasuke, though..."

"Uchiha?" The Third latched onto the name immediately and Naruto confirmed the name.

"Wish Sakura could have been alive to finally see him come around. Evened the odds against Madara damn quick." The older man made mental note to probe that topic further as Naruto continued the tale. "Kakashi went down, alive but unable to continue the battle while we were back to back fighting our own separate battles, trading insults just like old times."

Sarutobi allowed the young man a moment in what was obviously a fond recollection. Naruto sighed as the recollection turned solemn. His blue eyes gained a glassy reflectivity. "He took the prick out. Classic Chidori. Madara didn't even see it coming. The asshole tried to Izanagi out of the damage but Sasuke was ready for it and triggered his own. They both just vanished, chakra and everything."

"That left just me, a ton of S-class undead, a clone army, a giant two headed snake and Kabuto himself." Naruto explained in a grim manner. "Kakashi handed the title of Hokage to me in his dying breath, but the writing was on the wall. Too many fronts, too much to protect. Konoha was going down so I gave the order to scatter. The only thing left was for me was to buy enough time so everybody else could get the hell out."

"This is a fairly bleak future by all-" The Sandaime's thought trailed off into silence, his mouth left hanging open for the next word as a critical fact lodged itself between what he was going to say and what he was thinking. The log jam finally cleared after several seconds with a single word. "Hokage?"

The right edge of Naruto's lip curled up into a smile as the elder caught on. "That's right, Jii-san. You're talking to the Shichidaime himself." The smirk persisted for several seconds as Naruto relished the stunned look Sarutobi's face had taken until reality reasserted itself. The smile dropped off rapidly as the obvious shadow of pain passed over his very being. "That's me. The seventh and last Hokage of Konoha."

It was a pain that Sarutobi shared by proxy, and like the young man in front of him, the incredulity of his announcement was all but washed away by the cold, hard reality of his very presence. In spite of a life time of service to the village, the death of this very boy's father and his subsequent retaking of the position, The Hidden Village of the Leaf would still die by fire. Sabotage from within. Schemes from without. Powerful enemies, old and new. The Third stared at what was now his counterpart from a decade hence, then glanced back to the bottle of sake and considered partaking of the bottle directly.

_No, wouldn't do much for what little dignity I have left,_he sighed internally, digesting the entire tale. The outlook was the worst possible scenario one could imagine with the only bright spot being that he actually now knew of it. Sure, the hand of fate had already begun to fall against Konoha, but only just. Hiruzen Sarutobi returned his attention to the younger man sitting across the desk from him. He was their sole ace in the hole at this point and he intended to use the blond to the utmost now that the threat was known.

"What would you suggest?"

Naruto remained silent for a moment, almost amazing the Hokage outright as he thought about his answer while providing yet more evidence that this version of the boy had certainly matured. He gave a slight snort. "Don't know about you, but I'll be kicking ass and taking names. If you're looking for a definitive plan beyond that, I'm still getting over the fact that none of that shit has even happened yet."

"Hmm," The Third murmured, contemplating their next course of action. "I'll have accommodations arranged for you then. "You'll understand if I assign ANBU overwatch."

It wasn't a question and Naruto took it in stride. Even he realized this shit was just too weird to do otherwise. "And I'll draft a list of known Root and Akatsuki members while I'm sorting things out." Both code names instantly gained the Hokage's undivided attention. "A lot of Root went underground when Danzo bought it, so that list is going to be small. On the other hand, I have the Akatsuki's complete roster."

"I'm looking forward to seeing it," Sarutobi replied almost warily. The intelligence trove this Naruto represented was unprecedented- almost frightening in scope.

Naruto sat up and turned to the door. He glanced back. "I may just drop by Ibiki and help him if that's okay."

It really wasn't really a request, causing Sarutobi to frown as the man from the future excused himself. It was going to be a long,_ long_day.

One that apparently wouldn't be over for quite a while.

* * *

**N**aruto Uzumaki sat on a rock. The rock was in a cramped clearing of overgrowth and flora. The clearing was within the Forest of Death. He gave the general area another once over for interlopers- which technically described his very presence -before biting his thumb and running the wellspring of blood across the scarred seal. Chakra exploded to his right revealing a man sized fox; orange in color and an unhappy disposition writ large across its face. Nine tails lashed impatiently as its predatory gaze scanned for prey before finally settling on Naruto himself. The pair stared at one another for a moment before the kitsune settled and sat back on it haunches.

"What happened?" Naruto began without preamble, to which the beast's ear merely twitched.

"How in the hell should I know, mud-rat." The bassy gravel of his voice growled irritably, scraping against Naruto's eardrum like sandpaper. "One moment I was happily chewing the neck of a giant snake off, the next I find myself sucked back into the seal. Speaking of which, where the hell are we now? I wasn't done with that genetic abomination and can't exactly finish the job this small."

The blond cast a critical eye on the demon, whose nine tails lashed with impatience_. You don't know either_, Naruto determined and set to the short version. "We're in the past. I was hoping you knew how."

The tails abruptly stopped their swish, all but assuring the demon container that it was just as surprised as he had been.

"The past." It confirmed doubtfully. Naruto didn't even spare a nod for the creature as it, in turn, sniffed the air with its sharp muzzle. Its eyes narrowed on the young man, as if something had been confirmed by the action. "How far back in the past?"

Naruto arched his eyebrow in slight surprise. "What, you're not going to bitch about how it's impossible?"

"I'm the nine tailed Kyuubi, you insufficiently evolved mammal." The kitsune hissed at him. "Of course time travel is possible. If it weren't, I would berate you in some other manner, then gnaw your leg off for being so gullible."

Properly chastised, Naruto answered the question directly. "Just before I graduated."

"Ten more years with you..." The fox growled, baring his fangs in frustration. It then cocked its triangular head in a remarkably introspective look. "But then again, I would assume you will be looking to 'set things right' and other such noble drivel?"

"I was thinking about it." the Shichidaime cast a dry look back at the beast.

"This preemptive dispensation of 'justice' will undoubtedly result in copious amounts of bloodshed," Kyuubi licked his chops. "Including one Madara Uchiha, per chance?"

He almost hated agreeing with the fox when he was like this, but nodded nonetheless. The demon's muzzle curled into a fanged smile. "Then I will be more than happy to participate in the protection of 'your special people'... with _extreme prejudice_."

Naruto's cheek twitched with the demon's 'means to an end' logic. "Dammit fox, I feel like I need a shower now."

"And the rivers of blood will flow," The tails began to swish eagerly now, his jailer's words going unnoticed. "We will string their entrails from one boarder to the next. _None_will survive and even the Shinigami will quake at our passing..."

"Uh, Fox?"

"I will savor sucking those wretched Sharingan orbs from his skull," He continued unabated, snapping his jaws. "And then we will return for seconds upon disposing of his cursed brethren..."

"FOX!"

The tails stopped swishing and his triangular swiveled upon him curiously. Naruto ran a hand through his hair, scruffing the blond crop in exasperation. "Just remember the deal."

"The deal." Kyuubi growled, clearly communicating his disgust. "The _deal_cuts both ways my little chakra leech."

"Yeah, not my brightest idea," Naruto mumbled to himself, filing the act under the 'desperate measures' header. He returned his attention back to the demon impatiently. "Look, do you know what's going on or not?"

"Aside from the opportunity rain our vengeance upon the unsuspecting meat sacks?" The demon asked rhetorically. "Hardly, nor do I care."

The 'vengeance upon the unsuspecting' stuck a positive chord within the last Hokage, causing him his own measure of eager anticipation. "Yeah, I'll bet Kabuto shit his pants when the ANBU took him in."

"A matter we should have handled ourselves." The kitsune snorted its disapproval. "The current monkey Hokage is far too soft for these matters. And the others?"

Naruto frowned at the demon's missive as it hit upon the ever so slightest sliver of doubt that had wormed its way into his consciousness. He crushed the train of thought and answered the question directly. "No idea. Looks like Danzo bolted, though. He shouldn't have known, but he must have known _something_because he sure as hell didn't stick around."

For once, the response wasn't followed up with a snarky comment and the fox simply stared. An ear twitched, and Naruto's patience began to wear thin. "What, Fox?"

"Another diseased Sharingan carrier." The kitsune stated, but this time the insult carried little malice. Kyuubi cocked his head with an almost thoughtful look. "And perhaps not so unsuspecting."

Now _that _caused Naruto pause. "Explain."

Again, Kyuubi didn't outright balk at his order or insult him, putting the young man further on edge. "Their plague baring eyeballs are attuned to time and space. Our prey is potentially _aware_that something is amiss."

_Attuned to time and space._Naruto rolled the idea around in his thoughts and couldn't help but to at least consider the theory. The Sharingan arsenal included techniques like the Izanagi and Time Space Migration, making the demon's explanation at least plausible much as he hated to admit it... And potentially losing the element of crushing surprise in the process.

"Going to need to think about this," The Shichidaime grumbled as his brain tried to work the overwhelming number of angles. Regardless, there were still a lot of people he could get the drop on who didn't have the benefit of a Sharingan. Naruto blinked as a couple came unbidden into his mind's eye. "I think..."

"Don't strain yourself." Kyuubi snorted. "And if you insist on doing so, leave me to dance amongst the shadows and do not summon me again until there is a payment of blood."

Naruto brushed the fox off and it sniffed at him contemptuously before taking a leap into open space, disappearing into ether as it did so. There were so many variables to consider this time through, and he almost had to assume that the Akatsuki would alter their plans if Madara was leading them by the nose._ Itachi dies by Sasuke's hand, but then he wanted that anyway_, he reasoned internally. Of course, even if the man did benefit from time-space awareness in some form, he'd only see his death, nothing after that. _Certainly not the ass-kicking Madara has lined up for us._

The sun began to set. Alone in the clearing within the forest of death, Naruto Uzumaki sighed from atop his rock and began to make plans.

* * *

**"I**... I don't know anything!" Naruto watched determinedly as the man on the other side of the one way mirror struggled against his sealed restraints while one Ibiki Morino retrieved a simple cup of water from a nearby interrogation table. He splashed Kabuto with it, causing the man posing as a genin to squirm within the ridged confines of his iron skeleton chair all the more. Beside Naruto, the Third Hokage took a drag from his kiseru even as Ibiki calmly set the cup back on the table, his purportedly genin victim dripping wet.

"Once more." Ibiki began anew in a supremely calm, menacing voice. "What is your affiliation with Orochimaru?"

"I... I don't know who you're talking about!" The genin wheezed pathetically and his interrogator simply shook his head. "Just let me go! I didn't do anything!"

"Frankly, I'm saddened by the fact that it took an informant within his ranks to point you out, as opposed to our counter intelligence arm." Ibiki simply nodded and returned to the table. The action caused his victim to plead even more. The scarred man retrieved a pair of sharp metal rods with cables attached to them. He clicked them together, causing a blinding spark to arc between them. "I will give you another chance to reconsider your answer."

"I don't even know what an Orochima- _AHHHHAAARRRAARR!_"

Ibiki didn't even allow the man to complete his sentence and touched his left ribcage with the rods, causing the bespeckled nin to spasm in excruciating agony. The Head Interrogator left the rods applied for three whole seconds before removing them. Kabuto continued to scream for another two seconds while his body twitched uncontrollably for the next ten. Steam rolled off the genin's clothing as the man continued, setting the tongs aside in favor of a manila folder. He opened it up and lethargically leafed through its contents.

"One hundred and ninety-one missions," He continued as if he hadn't just applied a large amount of electrical current to the nin. "One hundred and sixty three D-Rank missions and only twenty eight C-Ranked missions." Ibiki looked up from the manila folder with a clearly doubtful look. "Tell me, Yakushi-san, why are you still here? With such an abysmal record, why are you even still a ninja?"

"I've always wanted... wanted to be... a ninja..." Kabuto panted. Ibiki simply nodded, removing Kabuto's glasses and folding them as if they were liable to break through handling alone.

"And who is covering for you?" He continued, setting the glasses on the desk gently to be traded for the next paper cup of water in line. "The academy should have washed you out by now. No genin does _fifty_ D-Rank missions, and somehow you've accumulated _over three times_that number. How is that, Yakushi-san? Is the money that good?"

"I'm just a genin!" The nin seemed to plead as the water splashed him once more. "Maybe it's a paperwork mix-up. Maybe it's- _AHHHAAaaAAAGHIIEEGH!_"

"And maybe you're a sleeper agent for Orochimaru," Ibiki concluded after another three second discharge. Kabuto slumped over, breathing heavily. "Our informant within his ranks also advises us that you have exceptional regenerational abilities. Personally, those are my favorite subjects to question. We're able to prolong the experience _much_longer."

"I don't... I don't have..."

"The scars that should be on your ribcage and aren't say otherwise," Ibiki tisked. "We've been at this for three hours now and yet there's not a mark on you. Why isn't that in your dossier, Yakushi-san?"

"It's a mistake..." The genin whined. The Tokubetsu Jounin looked unconvinced and snapped his fingers. The only exit to the small room opened, admitting a masked nin swathed in black, carrying a white roll of cloth in hand. Kabuto tracked him as he set it on the table and unrolled it, revealing several thin, silver lengths. Needles.

"The electricity is obviously ineffective by itself and my associate is an artist when it comes to acupuncture information extraction." Ibiki explained almost conversationally. "I thought, why not combine the two?"

Kabuto's head jerked upright as he watched the the black clad nin pull the first needle. Behind the one way glass, Naruto arched an eyebrow.

"That man is as scary now as he is ten years from now." He commented, watching Kabuto thrash as his clothing was torn off. The Hokage simply nodded, watching in kind for a moment before turning to a new topic.

"Have you considered your course of action?" Sarutobi asked plainly.

"I need a team."

The Third folded his hands, watching the scene play out before them. "I'm sure I can scrape together an ANBU hunter-killer team for whatever you have in-"

"Maybe later. Right now, I need a team from this year's genin class." The Hokage stopped dead and glanced over at his future counterpart with a small measure of surprise, and took an educated guess as to the thrust of the request.

"Would Sasuke Uchiha be one of the members you will be requesting?" Sarutobi inquired, earning a terse nod from the blond to his right.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Hinata Hyuuga specifically." Naruto confirmed, puzzling the Hokage further.

"I believe I understand the request for Sasuke. The other two confuse me." Sarutobi admitted. Beyond the glass, Kabuto had lapsed into a listless state, his head lolling to and fro while at least twenty senbon needles jutted out from various points along his naked body. A syrupy smile inhabited his face as he mumbled something about his mother... Until Ibiki applied the rods to two separate needle points, prompting the man to scream in agony.

The elder turned away from the scene. "The Haruno girl is near the top of her class, but doesn't exhibit any noteworthy traits. In terms of the Hyuuga, the general consensus is she is far too introverted for the lifestyle chosen by her clan. Perhaps the older Hyuuga would be better suited-"

"Hokage from the future, remember Jii-san?" Naruto produced a childish peace sign, causing the Third's cheek to twitch slightly before the young man lapsed into seriousness, his voice softening. "These are the people I need Hiruzen-sama."

The old man returned to the scene of Kabuto moaning with lascivious pleasure as another needle was inserted, and almost wished he hadn't. The electric tongs were applied moments later. "Even with a henge, secrecy will be all but impossible to maintain. Right now our biggest advantage is keeping you unknown."

"Things are already changing," The Seventh Hokage replied. "I have it on good authority that anybody with an active Sharingan may already know something is amiss. It would explain Danzo, and that means Madara is probably feeling jumpy as well."

"And were I him, I would begin to revise the original plan," Sarutobi murmured.

"At a minimum." Naruto agreed. Another round of prolonged screaming interrupted him, and he felt it best to wait the full fifteen seconds until it died off. "Pretty soon the original course of events will be shot all to hell anyway and I've never been much for conventional wisdom."

"So I remember." The elder of the pair chortled softly, recalling the young man's childhood that had all but slipped away over night. "Still, your request won't be without consequences. There will be ripples."

"Ripples?" Naruto's grin held a feral edge as he sat up from the seat. "I'm looking to create goddamn waves, old man."

"Hmmf." Sarutobi sniffed without commitment. "Then I'll forward the order to Iruka. Expect some pointed questioning when this becomes public."

"The price of doing business." Naruto turned for the door, then paused and leaned over to the station mic directly connecting their observation room to the interrogation chamber's intercom. Sarutobi watched curiously as Naruto keyed the mic. "And don't be afraid to open the bastard up. He can take that and more."

Ibiki's ANBU needle specialist stepped between his boss and Kabuto to try and talk some reason into the head interrogator. His good cop performance was flawless and Ibiki brushed him aside, taking Naruto's suggestion in hand in the form of a glinting scalpel.

The instrument was well known to Kabuto and his eyes began pooling with terror.

* * *

**Author's Notes**—Here's to another fic I probably shouldn't be doing out of spite, but somehow am anyway. The Naruto genre is full of just plain awful time travel plots, so I just had to try my hand at it as well. No guarantees this won't joining them ;)

**Special thanks;** _Dragon Dagger, Materia Blade and the good folks from #scarlet._


	2. Chapter 2

**Reap the Whirlwind  
**_By Ozzallos_

**Chapter TWO**

**I**ruka Umino sighed as the students around him chitter with excitement and congratulations, giving them their moment in the sun before calling the classroom back to some semblance of order. "Settle down! I'm sure the others would like to know their teams?"

The din dropped several decibels as anticipation gripped the students. Iruka smiled, and gave a nod to his counterpart. Mizuki chuckled and took the next team appointment for himself, reading the scroll aloud. "Team six will consist of-"

He never got a chance to finish. The door to the classroom was suddenly kicked open and a tagged kunai tossed just in front of their desk, where it stuck point first. The tag on the end burnt down even as the pair realized what they were looking at.

_"Down!"_

Iruka kicked the desk up for improvised cover on instinct as he screamed the order to his students. It exploded almost instantaneously, filling modest space with smoke and an all but deafening crack. As soon as he realized the concussive thump wasn't an explosion the instructor pulled a kunai for offensive action and signed a single handed jutsu. A high frequency sonar pulse pinged the room and localized all six invaders in spite of the smoke, and he prepared to engage when the lightest touch of steel found a home upon his neck.

"This is an official ANBU sanctioned operation Umino-san." An unseen female's voice whispered in his ear. "Please stand down."

_And if it wasn't officially sanctioned, I'd be dead, _Iruka reasoned and slowly re-sheathed his blade. The steel at his throat was likewise removed, and he jerked around, finding a cat masked ANBU nin in full body armor, katana in hand. The smoke was clearing and he turned back to the last known location of the other ANBU, finding all six with blades resting on some portion of the petrified Mizuki's body. The students were only now beginning to peek out from behind their desks with wide eyes.

"I would inquire as to an explanation, ANBU-san," Iruka requested with more calm in his voice than he was actually feeling at the moment. The cat shock trooper considered the request.

"Instructor Kuga is being taken into custody for high treason." She explained without going into detail. The students watching produced scandalous gasps.

"Iruka-kun! I didn't do anything! Tell- _urk!_" A kunai dug fractionally deeper into the front of his neck, silencing him immediately with the demonstrated threat.

"Ah, there must be some mistake," The classroom's home teacher attempted to reconcile the matter. "Mizuki-san has always been a professional for as long as-"

"We have ample evidence," The cat ANBU shook her head, and gave the signal to the others, who promptly yanked the former nin instructor up and bound his movements with a restraining seal. "Please direct any further inquiries to the Hokage-sama himself or the Team Seven instructor."

And that was it.

She stepped around him and led the team out, who in turn bodily dragged their whimpering target from the classroom without further discussion while every student eye watched them leave; half his class very nearly gaping in shock. Even the remaining instructor stared in disbelief for a moment before his professionalism reasserted itself.

"Ah... Ahem," Iruka put a hand to his mouth, clearing his throat. His student's wide eye stares were slowly drawn back to his person. He glanced down to his overturned desk and the materials scattered across the immediate floor with a sigh, singling out a half open scroll strewn at his very feet. He bent down to collect it, rolling through its contents before coming to the point _former _academy instructor Mizuki Kuga had left off at. "Alright then. Team Six: Igo Tabana, Nodoka Oiriko and Kendo Ichiha, your instructor is Hamaki Mimura. Report to training ground eight ASAP."

The normal exuberance that would normally accompany the proclamation was subdued to the point of nonexistence with the initial interruption, and the three newly minted genin shuffled out of the room with a minimum of fanfare. His eyes read to the next entry and he began to read it aloud, stopping short as he realized exactly what the contents were.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuuga and Sakura..." Iruka stalled as he came to the next team number in sequential order; the very same one that had apparently something to do with ordering the hit on Mizuki himself. He ground his jaw down in silent frustration since even the would-be instructor's name had been omitted from the roster. His study flicked up to the three students in question, all of which had wide eyes while the rest of the class stared at them, undoubtedly contemplating their extreme misfortune as much as he was. The academy instructor coughed in a lame attempt to cover his own gaff.

"Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata and Sakura Haruno; Team Seven. Report to..." Iruka paused again, unable to believe what he was reading. "Ahem. Report to the top of the Hokage Monument and await further instructions."

Two females and one male remained rooted to their seats, either unable or unwilling to move in the face of such a bad omen. Even Sakura's blond rival remained silent, unsure as to whether she should curse the girl for being on the same team as Sasuke or cheer her poor luck. Their mutual instructor, on the other hand, shook his head in sympathy. "I would assume that means _now_."

It was an understandably tense walk to the monument.

Like her best friend slash rival, Sakura was ecstatic to learn she would be on the same team as the most sought after boy in the academy. Even better, she was now virtually unopposed with Hinata opposite of her. It was all but common knowledge the girl had no interest in the Uchiha, and while strange, it made for Sakura's incredibly good fortune...

...Fortune marred by the fact that their sensei apparently had no problems using the ANBU and extreme force to make people disappear. It was also the beginning of a disturbing trend in that it was the second time in less than two days she had witnessed a removal of another nin with her own eyes._ And where the hell is the orange idiot, anyway? _Not that she was horribly upset by the prankster's absence as it removed yet another irritant from her daily routine, but the absence was odd, especially given the unusual ANBU activities to date.

It all gave her the creeps, an emotion she tried to expunge through nervous conversation. "So... Do you know who our new instructor is, Sasuke-kun?"

The Uchiha's cool gaze flicked over to the pink haired girl keep pace with him for a fraction of a second before dismissing her entirely. For himself, the display of power caused the slightest wellspring of anticipation. ANBU activities sanctioned by the Hokage _and their instructor? _Potentially terrifying, yes, but also potentially fortuitous to be learning from somebody with that much pull and not afraid to use the power he was given. It would ultimately aid in his goal, and anything that did was tolerable...

...Even if he didn't have a damn clue as to who that person actually was.

"How about you, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked after it became obvious no conversationally useful response would be forthcoming from Sasuke. Much to her consternation, Sakura Haruno would come to realize that neither one of her teammates were the talkative sort.

For Hinata's part, the question jarred her from her own thoughts and she simply shook her head in response; returning to a topic similar to the one her pink haired teammate had considered, but occupying several levels higher in priority: _Where is Naruto-kun? _It actually occupied a slot marginally higher than scary ANBU nins hauling one of their instructors off to God knows where, since Naruto- Prankster that he is -never missed a day at the academy. Late, yes. Sitting in detention, yes. Even literally tied up on multiple occasions by Iruka himself, yes.

Absent? _Never._

And missing the final test yesterday?_ Impossible. _So much so for the young Hyuuga that she had immediately set out to find him after class and came up empty. Not at his dorm. Not pulling pranks. Not eating at ramen at Ichiraku's. It was as if her long time crush had simply disappeared from the face of Konoha, and it worried her to the point where she had informed Iruka, who expressed his own concern. He promised he would look into the matter, and she trusted him. Still...

The three hundred and eighty-eight stone granite stairs winding up to the top of the Hokage monument were negotiated in near silence. Attempts to break that silence- exclusively by Sakura herself -only met untimely demises as neither one of her teammates responded significantly to her chatter. The only upside to the ten minute ascent was that the view of the village was spectacular.

Sakura was again the only one to appreciate it, as neither of her comrades seemed interested. Sasuke was content in merely leaning on a rock outcropping, while Hinata seemed absorbed in other matters. The pink haired genin sighed to herself and enjoyed the view anyway. Below, the streets seemed to twist and wind in indecipherable chaos, save the fact that the trio had grown up here and that the chaos was anything but. From here she could see the academy and the very tower the Hokage himself resided in. She had never been up this high before and it was all quite stunning...

...for the first fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes stretched into twenty. Then thirty. Their instructor was no longer fashionably late. The pink haired female of the group sighed. He or she just wasn't coming. Her sigh was apparently Sasuke's signal as well, as the boy's own patience finally expired. The Uchiha pushed himself off the rock he had been leaning against and directed himself back toward the stairs they had ascended a half hour ago.

"Um, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura followed his movements and trotted over to his person. "Ah, shouldn't we wait and-"

"I have better things to do." Sasuke stated indifferently as he walked, Sakura trailing behind while Hinata stared indecisively. The pair neared the guardrail and steps when the shy girl finally found her voice.

"Um, shouldn't, ah, wait for..." her voice trailed off as the walking continued, while only Sakura spared her an unsure glance back, but kept pace with her teenage crush regardless.

"I'd listen to her if I were you."

Sakura blinked and spun around even as Hinata's own gaze snapped to the source of those words. Sasuke merely stopped and glance back. All three found the same sight- rather person -standing near the edge. The black haired Uchiha's face turned bland. "About damn-"

"YOU!"

Sasuke blinked as he was overridden by his pink haired team member, who was now pointing to their new arrival with a quivering finger with no small amount of deja'vu riding along her emotion. _It was the ANBU guy from a day ago! The one that looked eerily familiar! _She studied his features and found them to be nearly the same as there first encounter- Blond spiky hair, blue eyes and the Konoha hitai-ite resting atop his forehead. He still wore a white trench coat, licked by orange flame embroidery. Below that was the dark blue body armor and cargo pants, ensuring Sakara that this was the very same person she had watched get surrounded by the ANBU.

Beyond that, he also looked damn familiar. She would almost have assumed he was the Forth Hokage, save the fact that he was dead, first off all. Second, his picture was in nearly every academy textbook in one form or another. This particular person shared many of his features, but lacked the sharp angles that defined the Yondaime's face. _A brother? Cousin? Son? _An errant train of thought theorized as the question presented itself. Sakura frowned for lack of critical information, and now that she thought on the matter, none of the text had ever expound on the Fourth's family in any real detail.

"Yes, me." The blond chuckled slightly, his trench coat swaying in the breeze as he confirmed the obvious.

"So you're our-"

_"Byakugan!"_ Sasuke was interrupted again by the second female of their team as she activated her bloodline. Sakura blinked and watched the girl's eyes suddenly strain to stare at their new instructor, if not _through_. Hinata's own study lasted nearly a moment before she released the technique in favor of a gibbering gasp. "You're... you... you're... you can't be..."

Their instructor blinked and scruffed his blond hair, suddenly looking embarrassed. "Huh. Guess I should have seen that coming."

"Hinata? Hinata! Who is he?" Sakura's second call of the girl's name reluctantly pulled her gaze from the blond. The black haired girl's mouth opened and closed, as if broken and unable to produce sound. The frustrated Haruno's study snapped back to the man. "Who the heck are you?"

The blond grinned somewhat mischievously. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, your new Team Seven Lead."

Sakura's mouth immediately snapped shut and stared at the man with a bug-eyed look. Sasuke had lapsed into rapid blinking and Hinata...

...Well, Hinata Hyuuga fainted dead away.

"**T**raditionally, we go through everybody's likes, dislikes and dreams as a team," Naruto Uzumaki smiled as he leaned against a tree some ways away from the edge of the monument while two of his three team members glared burning holes of death in him. The third member stared in wide eyed wonder, though the blond pretended to not notice any of them. "Of course, there's the fact that I already know your likes, dislikes and-"

"You're can't be Naruto!" Sakura blurted, shaking her head emphatically. "That idiot isn't any older than us!"

"Hmm," The team seven lead pondered, then shrugged. "Let's just call it a little accident that I'll tell you about some other time. Until then, Hinata, am I Naruto?" The girl simply nodded timidly with wide eyes. "The same Naruto from the last week?"

"Not... Not exactly..." She stuttered, unable to explain the difference in words. "Slightly different... Your chakra is more... refined?"

Naruto smiled brightly. "See?"

Sasuke looked from Hinata to Naruto, his face little more than a neutral mask. "I don't believe you."

"Then I guess we get to play the introduction game after all." Naruto stated, pointing at Sasuke first. "Sasuke Uchiha, last of the Uchiha clan. You like to train and take long walks. You dislike nearly everyone and everything else. You also have an unhealthy ambition to kill your brother, Itachi Uchiha and may get around to resurrecting the clan if you survive."

Sasuke's eyes widened, but the blond had already moved on to Sakura. "Sakura Haruno. You like trivia games and anko dumplings. You disliked me pestering you, the color orange and also harbor an equally unhealthy obsession for Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned to stare while Sakura's face turned nearly as pink as her hair. "I... uh... It's...

"Hinata Hyuuga," Naruto ignored Sakura's antics. Hinata's face likewise immediately pinkened as the Shichidaime's attention tuned upon her. "You enjoy pressing flowers and cinnamon rolls. You dislike seafood in most forms. Your dream..." The girl's eyes widened and she instantly found the grass at her feet far more interesting than the discussion at hand. Naruto sighed, wearily. "...Your dream, we'll talk about later."

"HEY!" Sakura yelped and latched on to something other than her own embarrassment; that being the embarrassment of others. "You can't just leave her out!"

Naruto looked at the girl twiddling her thumbs nervously, then turned back to Sakura. "Nah. The only reason we're doing this is because you didn't believe me. She does, so she gets a pass."

"Not fair." Sakura balked and Naruto shrugged uncaringly.

"Life isn't." He replied, motioning to Sasuke. "Ask your boyfriend there."

Sakura turned a healthy shade of pink once more as the title 'boyfriend' was applied to her person, prompting Sasuke to snort in disgust and composed his own counterattack. "And how about you, _sensei?_ You haven't told us about yourself yet."

Naruto ignored the sarcastic edge applied to the honorific and shrugged. "Sure, why not? I'm Naruto Uzumaki, twenty six year old. I like pranks and ramen. I dislike traitors and stuck up bastards. I've already achieved one of my dreams and I will do _anything it takes_to protect my special people."

If this was indeed Naruto, his eyes held a solid core of ice that Sakura had never seen before. The intensity causde her to take an ever so slight step back and Sasuke merely watched warily. It was still impossible for this guy to be the idiot trouble maker, but that didn't make him any less dangerous if one was to challenge the veracity of his claim. Hinata watched, already well in awe of the man that stood over her. She already knew his likes and dislikes. She already knew his dream. She already knew...

...Hinata's thought process derailed. His dream was to become Hokage. It was something he had proclaimed from the roof tops since the very first day they had sat in the same class together. It was something anybody who paid any attention to Naruto would know by heart, save the fact that _nobody ever did_. Her mouth hung slightly open in stunned revelation.

And he had just claimed he had achieved it, if she wasn't mistaken.

He caught her wondering gaze and gave her a wink, causing the fiery blush on her face to renew once more. Naruto turned back to the group as a whole. "Now if I were a certain other ninja, I would tell you to come back tomorrow for a test."

"A _test?_" Sasuke's eyes narrowed on the blond irritably. "We already passed our test."

"I would also tell you not to eat for fear of puking your guts out, then use it against you as you resorted to desperate acts in order to pass." Naruto continued unperturbed. He turned specifically to the impatient Uchiha. "And it will take more than passing a weak academy exam to achieve your ambition, am I correct?"

Sasuke cocked his head curiously, then nodded.

"Then let's see if you've got what it takes," Naruto leaned off the tree and began to walk through the tree line and into a wide clearing. His team followed tepidly and the blond stopped in the center, his back still toward them. "Normally this test would be some team building exercise, though if you can't pass what I have in mind, there'll be no point in even that."

Naruto pulled a kunai from the ground and dropped it in front of him. The tip embedded itself into the grass and he finally turned around to face his students. "Your task is simple. Grab the kunai I just dropped. Sasuke will go first."

Both girls drifted off to the side to give the Uchiha room, who stared his new team leader down critically. If this was Naruto playing some sort of prank, it was time to give him a very rude surprise. Even if he wasn't, he wouldn't let something so mundane stand in the way of his goal. Sasuke shifted his balance for the initial lunge.

"Looks like you're ready." Naruto held out his hand, beckoning the Uchiha forward. "Don't keep me waiting."

The last Uchiha did not. He charged in at maximum speed, unleashing his own barrage of kunai in transit; all of which were promptly deflected by the single kunai appearing in Naruto's hand. It blurred, glinting sunlight as if it were a mere mirage, but sent every single last one of the twelve salvoed tumbling off into the dirt. That was okay by Sasuke, however, as they were merely a screen to ensure he would close to melee range where he would-

_**CRuuNCH!**_

The blond man didn't move, but the air did as some form of chakra wraith swirled around him just as he closed within a meter, slamming into the genin like a solid stone wall. It was like a chakra roundhouse had just found his chin, and any forward momentum was instantly converted backwards, sending the boy tumbling back across the grass to create his own modest trench.

"Sasuke!" His pink haired team member squealed and rushed to his aid, kneeling down next to the object of her affection to ensure he was okay. She attempted to help the struggling boy up, who responded by shoving her away and returning to his feet under his own power. His legs flexed and he was once again sprinting forward, while the blond himself looked completely unconcerned by the display. More stars appeared in the Uchiha's grasp and he flung them forward and skidded to a halt just outside melee range as the instructor dealt with them.

Steal pinged in response as Sasuke's hands flew through a set of well drilled seals. "_Goukakyuu no jutsu!"_

The last star tumbled away from Naruto's kunai and behind it an immense gout of flame erupted, obscuring the last Uchiha completely from view. Sakura gawked as the cloud of fire enveloped their instructor wholesale, torching the grass as it did. A quick glance over to her female counterpart revealed everything but amazement for the genius that was Sasuke Uchiha. Hinata watched with determination, as if the Hyuuga heiress knew something she didn't.

It was something she would find out momentarily.

The ball of fire curled around Naruto until Sasuke felt he had achieved sufficient density and cut the technique loose, dropping his curled hand from his lips. The flames died out and the stream of fire guttered, revealing a smoldering patch scarred earth and an untouched instructor standing atop green grass, completely unscathed.

Sasuke's cheek twitched as he took a wary step back. Naruto looked up from the nails he had been buffing, as if noticing the technique had expended itself for the first time. He looked around, then down at the burned ground beginning half a meter from his feet, then back up to Sasuke in dismay. "Is that it?"

Sasuke growled and killer intent washed over the clearing. Two kunai cleared his holster, one for each hand and Naruto's gaze suddenly lost all emotion. "So it's time for the avenger to make his appearance, hmmm?" The kunai twirled in the genin's hand as he began to circle the blond. Naruto shook his head. "I think it's time you realize just what that will cost you."

Sasuke's leg flexed for the initial lunge but he didn't even make it a step when Naruto suddenly disappeared from his position and reappear directly before the unprepared Uchiha, his fist already blazing upward for a sucker punch to the gut. Sasuke took the Jinchuuriki's blow without preparation of any sort and folded in half the moment it connected. His feet left the ground, and even through the gagging sensation that threatened to rack him the boy still had enough sense to grab at the attacking arm to pivot off the fist. He reached to stabilize his grip, only to have it seized within Naruto's right hand.

Sasuke snarled and retracted the arm, but it was rooted in concrete. Naruto snorted with contemptuous amusement and reverse the genin's arm back and skyward, spinning Sasuke horizontally off his fist and slamming him back into the grass. The boy coughed, struggling to gather a breath as stars inhabited his vision. They cleared after a moment of blinking and he found the blond standing over him. It was the twenty six year old adult staring down at him. Sasuke only saw a younger thirteen year old loser in his field of vision and snarled between coughs.

"First lesson," Naruto stated, releasing the boy. "There is _always _somebody stronger than you are."

_"DIE!" _He hissed and grabbed at one of his fallen kunai. The left hand snatched out to grab it even as he lunged upward to take a long slice at his instructor. Naruto dodged back fluidly and the younger nin was back up immediately after him, throwing the blade which was instantly caught edge on and discarded in kind. The Team Seven instructor dodge another tight combination, then slapped the next fist aside, breaching Sasuke's guard entirely and laying into him with yet another rising gut punch.

Air exploded from Sasuke's lungs once more and this time he didn't even see the open palmed strike inbound for the side of his face. The pain in his gut was instantly overshadowed by the nova of agony exploding across his face. Grass and dirt once again made the genin's acquaintance. This time it took ten full seconds for the white cloaked blur of Naruto Uzumaki to resolve itself into something worth casting a hateful glare at.

"Sasuke!" Sakura screamed, all but ready to run to the boy's defense.

"Second lesson," The blond paced lethargically around the Uchiha heir, having yet to work up a sweat of any sort. "There is always somebody _faster _than you are."

"You... You can't be the dobe!" Sasuke spat, the pain in his abdomen and face finally subsiding enough to allow him some form of coherent activity. He tensed and sprang, pulling one of his last kunai from his belt for a wild stab...

...And instantly found himself face down back in the grass with the weapon baring hand locked behind his back and no clue as to how he got there, save that Naruto's foot was pressing his face into the earth. From the sidelines, Sakura stared in shock, barely having resolved the blur that put him there in the first place. Hinata simply watched. She had been trained to that level of speed. Perhaps not to the extreme _this _Naruto employed it, but she could certainly see every move and it was all so _perfect_.

The slightest, almost nearly invisible smile graced her gentle features as Naruto knelt down to the prone boy's level, his right foot still grinding Sasuke's face into the grass.

"Pop quiz, little avenger," Naruto began. The words were laden with sarcasm, but the tone of his voice was flat serious. "If your opponent is stronger and faster than you, what do you do?"

"Get stronger and faster!" Sasuke growled after a moment and Naruto tisked him.

"Really? He's just going to sit down and wait for you to catch up?" The Uchiha suddenly found the pressure released from the side of his head and he bolted up to acquire his tormentor, who was now wandering around him. A heated glare tracked his every movement but this time, declined to engage the instructor. "I thought you were the number one genius this year? What happened?"

"You can't be an instructor!" Sakura railed against the treatment of her crush, finally gathering enough courage to take a single step forward. "You! You're a sadist!"

Naruto sniffed with slight amusement, then steeled himself for what was about to come next for the girl that he had considered one of his closest friends for the longest time. He ignored her and turned back to Sasuke.

"You have a certain man to kill and you need power to do it." It really wasn't a question but Sasuke nodded in spite of himself. Naruto continued in more serious tone. "I respect that since I have a list myself. If it isn't already obvious, I have that power."

The last Uchiha watched as Naruto raised his arm and opened his left hand. A blue sphere swirled into existence, pulsing with chakra and potential. Sasuke watched it with glittering eyes, realizing what it represented.

_Vengeance._

"This technique alone... There is little that will survive it. I'll teach you everything, Sasuke." Naruto promised, then clenched his fist to banish the technique. It disappeared, jarring the boy back to the present. "But I need to know how serious you are about this. You need to do something for me."

Sasuke's eyes flicked up to Naruto's cold blue ones. "What?"

"Konoha has little room for second best." Naruto stated, turning back to the pair of girls watching the scene with no small measure of dread. "Eliminate the pink haired loud mouth and I'll know you can handle something this destructive."

"WHAT?" Sakura blurted, staring at her instructor with a horrified look. Even Hinata's eyes widened, her incredulous gaze flicking from Naruto to Sakura then Sasuke and back. Sakura spent several second gibbering before a coherent thought finally made it past the tangle of neurons to form a complete sentence. "You- YOU CAN'T DO THAT! There's no way Sasuke would ever take you... take you..."

No normal person would have considered such a request. No sane person would have taken Naruto seriously. Sakura's righteous indignation suddenly found itself looking into the eyes of Sasuke Uchiha and she lost the ability to speak. It wasn't _what _he was doing...

...Yet.

It was his eyes. He hadn't pulled any weapon. He hadn't even taken a step toward her. But she could see it in his eyes. _He was actually considering the offer._ Sakura was an intelligent girl and for the first time since entering the academy, her girlish dreams of romance were literally blasted away as she watched-_knew -_her crush was weighing the pros and cons of carrying out their instructor's order.

"Sa... Sasuke?"

Her voice came out so completely meek and timid that it almost broke Naruto's heart on the spot. He sighed, unable to carry the charade any further. "Sakura." Her glassy eyes slowly fixated on his person. "Now do you see?"

Sakura simply stared, her mind empty of all thoughts save the one Naruto had intended from the very beginning. Sasuke, on the other hand, was still considering the offer when a hand rested on his shoulder. He glanced up to the blond, who was shaking his head. "That isn't the right answer either."

The hand slipped off his shoulder as Naruto walked, standing in the center of their gathering. "Your goal is to gain power. To avenge your clan. But it doesn't work that way."

Sasuke grimaced. "I'll _make _it work."

"Only if the target of your vengeance is a complete and utter moron," Naruto snorted, though the emotion was completely lacking in sarcasm. "Something Itachi Uchiha was not... _Is_ not. Worse, he has the same bloodline you do. He's not going to just wait for you to surpass him. How will you catch up?"

"I'll..."

"Sakura," Naruto turned around, still finding the girl entranced by the horrific revelation that he himself had brought to light. "Sakura."

The snap of her fingers brought her back to the present, and she stared at him as if he had just told a little girl there was no such thing as the Tooth Ninja. "Sakura Haruno, first in class academically," Naruto resumed, ignoring the torn look. "What do you do when your opponent is stronger and faster than you, and that you have no hope of bridging that gap?"

It took a moment for her intellect to jump the gap necessary to provide a coherent answer after the truth she had been exposed to. "You... You retreat?"

Sasuke snorted derisively, ready to wash his hands of this entire farce when Naruto pressed the issue. "And what if you can't retreat?"

"You get reinforcements." She replied with a fraction more certainty. Naruto nodded and turned back to Sasuke.

"Do yourself a huge favor, Sasuke," Naruto turned back to the boy staring at him. "Assume your brother is out there sucking up every technique he can get a hold of with that Sharingan of his. He was an ANBU before you even graduated and all you know is some mid rank fire jutsu."

"Shut up." Sasuke growled, balling his hands.

Naruto shrugged. "He's stronger than you. He's faster than you. You won't catch up. That's your test. Think about it."

Sasuke's cheek twitched, but somehow he remained in place in spite of the obvious cauldron of resentment brewing. Naruto let him glare and turned to the others. "Be here, six am sharp. If you're late, you won't be happy."

With that final advisement, their blond haired instructor vanished in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

**S**akura Haruno walked.

Her destination by and large didn't matter, nor was the fact that she walked alone a concern. The people around her simply didn't exist as she continued her listless transit down one of Konoha's main arteries. What did exist? Her child hood fantasies of the white samurai coming to whisk his kunoichi off her feet. They had, at least until the white samurai was abruptly eviscerated by the cold steel edged katana of reality.

She wanted to cry, but those tears had been used up on the walk down from the monument as she realized her white samurai in particular would do everything and anything achieve what had seemed to be something ultra-cool at the time: Avenge the family and clan. Sadly, the devil was in the proverbial details as she witnessed firsthand just what the Uchiha heir would do to make that happen.

Something bumped into her shoulder, and that something- presumably another pedestrian -apologized, but she was beyond caring. About anything. The young genin continued to walk as the scene replayed itself in her mind's eye. He would have sacrificed her. And for what? _A technique! _Anger tried to bubble up through the numb shell that had taken over her emotion, but it failed to achieve traction. Even worse, it was so painfully obvious in retrospect._ All that hope. All that work. All that-_

"Hey, forehead girl!"

_-Fighting._ Something brought her to a stop and she simply waited, not even bothering to turn around for the person that had once been her best friend and her bitterest rival. _And over what? _She thought bitterly as Sasuke's cold eyes flashed through her mind eye.

"Wait up, forehead girl!" Steps pattered from behind with the demand and she waited. Why, Sakura wasn't exactly certain. _Misery loves company,_ the morose portion of her intellect whispered, and the rest of her agreed. This was misery that needed to be _shared_.

"Jeez, braniac, how many times do I need to..." Ino trotted up to her rival, her blond ponytail swaying as she moved to step in front of the girl and interrogate her concerning the full day of exclusive Uchiha access; at least until she saw the deadened expression on the pink haired girl's face. Dull eyes turned upon her, and Ino sucked in a stunned breath. "Sa... Sakura?"

"Ino." She replied simply and her rival instantly noted the lack of any form of pig suffix. The Yamanaka hovered around her and took the easiest conclusion available to her given the girl's absolutely shell shocked appearance.

"The Team Seven leader is that bad?" She theorized, earning a derisive sniff from Sakura for the suggestion.

"Yes." She stated in a flat tone, then resumed walking. Ino moved to the side and kept pace.

"What...What did he do?" The blond pressed, almost afraid to ask. Heck, her first day hadn't gone nearly as bad as her rival's, and she was wondering exactly what their instructor did to put her in this state.

Another dead laugh fell from Sakura's lips. "He showed me."

Now Ino was starting to get annoyed. "Showed you _what_, billboard head?"

Sakura stopped again, and Ino lurched to the side in order to avoid running into her. The girl looked at her, then down to the sidewalk as a single tear crept down her cheek. "He showed me who Sasuke really is."

It just kept getting stranger and stranger the more Ino asked, and she struggled to connect the dots. How was knowing who the hottest guy in the academy really was such a bad thing? _And damn you for getting the chance!_ She growled from her thoughts. An edge of bitterness slipped into the next question. "Oh yeah? And what's Sasuke-kun _really _like?"

The girl's head slowly rotated up, and those dead green eyes locked on to hers. That alone sent a shiver down Ino's spine as Sakura held the gaze.

_"He's a monster."_

Ino blinked, not having at all expect that response. "He's a...?"

"_Monster._" Sakura repeated the word with more force and with it, the dam of emotions broke. Flames began to flicker within those dead orbs. "He's a _beast_. A self-centered _beast_. Sasuke-_kun_is somebody who will use you and discard you like so much trash in order to achieve his ambition."

"Hey!" Ino balked with the sudden vitriol embedded in the familiar usage of Sasuke's name. "You can't talk that way about-"

"I don't know why we didn't see it earlier." Sakura laughed in a self-depreciating manner. "The way he treats everybody? The way he discounts others as unimportant? It looks so cool from the outside..."

"You're nuts," Her blond companion boggled, rolling her eyes. "Your team leader broke you or something. Did Sasuke dump you? Is that it?"

The pink haired genin suddenly giggled. Her blond counterpart frowned, as it wasn't exactly the laughter of the sane. "You want him? He's _all yours_."

Ino blinked again, returning the stare warily. "What, you're just giving up? You're forfeiting him to me?"

"If that's what you want," Sakura's voice seemed to regain a measure of its former life. "Me? I don't want _anything_to do with the bastard. Hell, I don't even want him on my team since he'd sooner slip a knife in your back to get what he wants than help you."

"You can't be... serious?" Her rival gaped, completely unsure of where she stood with Sakura or even Sasuke for that matter.

"As serious as he was about killing me for special instruction," She replied, causing Ino to suddenly halt. Sakura continued walking with another derisive laugh. "He's yours for the taking... If he doesn't take your life first."

Ino stared.

Sakura kept walking.

* * *

**W**here Konoha was alive predominantly during the daylight hours, certain districts only opened their doors at night. Being a Ninja was a twenty four hour career and as a matter of fact, a fair portion of that profession was best left to the twilight. Infiltration. Assassination. Basically the bread and butter of being a shinobi in the first place. As such, the civilian populous endeavored to accommodate their night owl tendencies, which meant certain sectors of Konoha stayed open around the clock…

…The Tokaiyo District for example.

This particular hub of evening activity was the heart and soul of Konoha's food district. Anything from yakitori to pork buns could be acquired, and normally at all hours of the night. Not all of the vendors and restaurants were open well into the morning hours, but many were open late. Iruka Umino assumed that was one of the reasons he was now sitting on a bar stool at Ichiraku's ramen. The reason _why_was sitting there was a different matter entirely, since ramen wasn't his first or second choice in cuisine. Regardless of his culinary disposition, he nursed a bowl of barbecue pork ramen and waited.

Why? Because the note told him to.

Iruka fingered the note that he had set beside his bowl of ramen, and it now bore the occasional splatter mark from the slurping of his noodles. Regardless, the message written on it was still quite legible.

_'I would like to meet with you in person to discuss team seven and Naruto Uzumaki. Meet me at Ichiraku's at eight PM. -Team Seven Lead'_

Of particular concern was the mention of Naruto, who had been absent for the last two days and had missed the exams entirely. The troublemaker had all but grown up in his care, and while the noisy blond was a lot of things, a drop out wasn't one of them. The meeting place hadn't gone unnoticed either, and Iruka wasn't certain if the request was a foreboding portent or fortuitous in nature.

Iruka picked at the noodles and waited, glancing at his watch on occasion to ensure he had the time correct. He was a bit early, perhaps due to the anticipation. Five until eight.

"Seafood Ramen!" A voice piped as somebody mounted the stool beside his. Iruka's head jerked up as the lilt sounded eerie familiar. Even if it was deeper in pitch, the wild crop of blond hair owned by the person now sitting next to him was more than enough to cause a second look. The Academy instructor tried to make his observations as covert as possible. The man sitting beside him could have pulled off being the Forth himself in the right light- Even an older Naruto, both of which were weird coincidences by themselves.

Coincidences were never kind to ninja.

"So, how's the new team," He asked out of the blue, playing on a hunch. The newcomer glanced over and smiled.

"Pretty decent. Got a lot of rough edges to..." The blonde's reply trailed off as Irukas gaze narrowed on him with a knowing glint. The stranger smiled weakly with the fault. "Eh, what team?"

"Let's start with what you know about Naruto Uzumaki," The instructor's voice was dead serious, almost bordering on dangerous as he pushed the hand written note across the counter. The blond nin looked at him, then the note. The clueless look only persisted for another moment before imploding entirely with a tired sigh.

"Dammit, that's not how I wanted to start this," The man complained, but Iruka's stare continued to bore into him. "Alright, Naruto's fine. I think."

"You _think?"_

The nin winced as the qualifier was repeated back to him with a sharper edge. His voice dropped to a more conspiratorial level. "Alright, what I'm going to tell you is an S-class Secret. It's also completely unbelievable."

"Okay..." Iruka's left eyebrow arched skeptically.

"What if..." The blond paused, taking another moment to compose his thoughts. "What if somebody you knew appear from the future?"

"I wouldn't believe them." The instructor stated in a flat tone that advised his conversational partner that he wasn't in the mood for games.

"Exactly!" The nin slapped his fist in hand. "But he's going to insist, because it's important. You'd ask him to prove it, right?"

Iruka just stared, his patience wearing thin. "Who _are _you?"

"In the second year of Naruto's academy instruction he pulled a prank on you," The nin ignored the question. "So embarrassing you would never tell another living soul."

The instructor began to pale and he repeated his question with trepidation. _"Who are you?"_

"I can tell you what that prank was if you-"

"**NO!**" Iruka blurted, violently waving the suggestion away. The ramen bar's small staff turned around to stare and he chuckled nervously. That same nervous countenance turned back on the blond, whispering, "Is this blackmail?"

"Blackmail?" The man blinked. A crafty smile then appeared on his face. "Uh, no. Well, maybe. If you buy my dinner tonight."

"Done!" The scared nin agreed too quickly for his own good, though it was enough ease of mind to allow him to return to the subject at hand... Or rather the _lack _of one. "What's going on here?"

The question prompted another belabored sigh from the stranger, who had decided this wasn't going the way he thought it would, and tried a different tack. "Do I look familiar to you?"

Iruka weighed the question for a moment as to its intent and answered forthright. "You look like you could be relative of the Namikaze clan. The Fourth's brother. Something along those lines, except that he was an only child with no living relatives."

"He had a son." The blond stated and watched the academy teacher's puzzled reaction.

"He did? But, the records..." Iruka puzzled, staring. "I teach history at the academy, and that's not in the text books."

"That because his birth was connected to a horrific event." The strange nin explained. "Such that the Hokage ordered the record sealed and that it not be spoke of in the hope that Yondaime's son would grow up to lead a somewhat normal life."

"Your age is wrong for that." Iruka began to rapidly blink as connections were made. "You're suggesting that Naruto is...?"

"It's not a suggestion," The blonde smiled. The instructor's eyes glazed over with the implications.

"But that's..." He was stunned. All that prejudice against the Fourth's own offspring was nearly heresy. "But what does that have to do with _you_?"

The man's mischief returned as he circled back to his first question. "What if somebody you knew appeared from the future?"

An indefinable pit began to fill Iruka's stomach, and he parroted his response in a flat tone. "I'd... ask them him to prove it."

The nin in the white trench coat folded his arms with a smug look.

The instructor shook his head. "You can't_ possibly_ be suggesting..."

"And not only can I tell you about that prank all the way back my second year, but I can absolutely say your punishment was so embarrassing that _I_would never admit to it." His partner coughed with a tinge of embarrassment.

"That's impossible." Iruka stated, though no closer to certain factual ground than before.

"And that's what the Hokage said," The man becoming known as Naruto Uzumaki chuckled. "I hear he isn't in the habit of giving teams out to the insane."

"You... can't..." A number of questions suddenly vied for his attention, all of them equally improbably in nature. "It's just..."

"Let me help," Naruto decided. A steaming bowl of seafood ramen slid in front of him and he happily broke the chopsticks apart. "Yes, it's possible. No, I don't know how yet. Yes, I am and no, I don't know what happened to the thirteen year old 'me'."

Iruka watched the blond as he took his first bite of ramen with as much gusto as the Naruto of old. If he looked just hard enough, he could see they were the same person, separated by a decade or so of age. It was _still _impossible, of course, which would be why he'd pay the Hokage a visit personally tomorrow. Still there were questions, especially concerning where he himself fit into all of this.

"Assuming you are _Naruto_," Iruka pushed the hypothesis forward neutrally. "You said all of this was an S-Class secret. Why are you telling me?"

The shrimp poised at Naruto's lips paused, and the blond took a deep breath, placing it back into the broth. His blue eyes never left the bowl. "Because you're one of my special people. You deserve to know."

Iruka cocked his head, barely able to tie this man with the troublemaker. "I am?"

"Yesterday, I should have taken the exam," Naruto turned on him, any playfulness completely gone now. "I would have failed. Hell, you know how I was."

The instructor merely nodded. The Uzumaki reminded him a lot of his own childhood when it came right down to it. Attention and getting the attention was everything, and everything else took a back seat to that.

"My taijutsu would have been barely passable." The blond continued. "I did a bit better in throwing. But I absolutely flunked the henge portion. You had no choice but to fail me." Iruka listened even while the back of his mind balked at the fact that nobody in Naruto's class had failed yesterday, even if the troublemaker himself was absent. "You failed me but Mizuki offered me a second chance to retake it."

_That _grabbed the teacher's attention. "But he wouldn't have the authority to-"

"He didn't." Naruto shook his head. "He was using a gullible student with low self-esteem and desperate to prove himself to steal a scroll of forbidden techniques from the Hokage's archives."

"But we've always been good friends..." Suddenly the arrest earlier today clicked for Iruka.

"A lie." Naruto clicked his chopsticks against the ramen bowl's rim. "But because of it, because of you..."

The academy instructor watched the emotions play across Naruto's face. "Because of me? What did I do?"

"I owe you everything." Naruto smiled warmly. "Let me tell you about that night."

And he did.

* * *

**A**t that same moment, two people stood before the Hokage in his office, though neither one of which knew exactly why they were there.

The first was a female of approximately 160cm sporting a long mane of nearly indigo hair. The shape of her physique was about the only way one could tell her gender, since the rest was swathed in body armor and combat fatigues. Her face was likewise obscured by a reinforced mask denoting a cat, advising anybody who cared to look of her ANBU operative status.

The second was definitely male and his face was also obscured, if not to the extent of his female counterpart. One eye lazily wandered the room in study while the second was fully obscured by a hitai-ateangled down across it. The white haired man was also clad in full anti-ballistic armor and fatigues, but unlike the woman, did not sport the length of a katana across his back.

Both nins waited as the Third Hokage of Konoha finished applying an elaborate set of brush strokes to the parchment at his desk, then signed through a series of quick seals. The symbol he had just painted glowed bright blue briefly, then dulled back to that of regular ink.

"We may now proceed," The Hokage nodded as his eavesdropping countermeasures powered up. He looked up at the pair with a matter of fact expression. "Our intelligence arm has brought to light a grave threat moving against Konoha. You have heard of Akatuski, of course."

Both of his subordinates nodded as the name was beginning to increasingly filter into their mission roster as of late. "Recent intelligence has discovered that the organization is little more than a shill; a cat's paw in a greater scheme to systematically weaken Konoha's ability to respond to crisis. Instead of waiting for that scheme to bear fruit, we will be taking the fight to them." The Hokage crooked a smile. "Specifically, _you _will be taking the fight to them."

"If Akatsuki is little more than a diversion, who is the real target?" Yugao Uzuki asked from behind the anonymity of her ANBU mask.

"There are several," The Hokage explained, and retrieved a booklet from his desk drawer. "This is a special bingo book of your targets. The person at the very top of this list, however, is Madara Uchiha. Apparently, he intends to take over the world, cliché as it may sound."

Kakashi's single visible eyebrow rose at the audacity of the Uchiha's intention. "And Konoha is the first stop on that ambition?"

"More accurately, we stand the best chance of resisting it," Sarutobi nodded, pushing the olive green covered bingo book across his desk toward his operatives. "That, and he harbors a deep resentment for us. The nine tails incident was no mere accident."

He could only imagine what was going through their minds now, but continued nonetheless. "Your three man unit will have multiple objectives. First and foremost, eliminate everybody listed in that book. You will be given a free hand in the methods you wish to employ to accomplish this mission. Your second objective will be resource denial."

"Resource denial?" Yugao questioned, earning a nod from the Third.

"Part of the Uchiha's overarching plan is to collect Jinchuuriki nin in order to achieve his primary goal." The white haired village elder outlined as he himself had been told. "In fact, he already has a number of them in his possession. If we can keep him from obtaining the rest, his plan fails by default."

"So does killing him." The kunoichi stated plainly.

"He's intelligent, resourceful and powerful." Sarutobi advised as he reached for his kiseru sitting idly in a tray. "We are exploiting any avenue that will checkmate his ambition. To that end, we are also seeking allies... Anything that will shore up our odds. I have dispatched messengers to recall the Sannin as we speak."

"We're expecting that much excitement, hmm?" Kakashi wondered out loud, now thoroughly intrigued by what he had originally assumed was a disciplinary briefing. He had been passed over as a team instructor, and now the reason why was becoming quite evident. Recalling living legends, however, spoke as to just how serious the man sitting before him was.

"And more." The Hokage replied bluntly. "Again, the Kyuubi incident thirteen years ago was merely the tip of the iceberg. Our sources indicate that he has been planning this for a very long time."

"You mentioned a three man team." Yugao pointed out. Again the Sandaime nodded, rising from his desk to walk around the two nin's to his door.

"This mission, its targets and objectives are well above S-Rank," The old man advised as he passed them. "In fact, we will be likely violating several treaties by engaging in such. Regardless, you may use any means necessary to eliminate this threat."

He opened the door. "You can come in- Oh, for God's sakes."

Both Kakashi and Yuago turned to find the man's serious attitude completely blunted by the dismayed look on his face as the third member of their team sauntered in. Once again, Kakashi's eyebrow arched at the blond bombshell that walked into the room with an all too cheery expression on her face. Like her counterparts, she too wore the full body armor and fatigues of a combat nin, though her fashion also sported a black trench coat licked by orange embroidered flames. Finally, her hitai-ate hung loosely around the curves of her waist as if it were a belt itself.

"Must you really?" Saurtobi shook his head in clear disappointment.

"When you say it like that, definitely!" The woman chirped, causing the elder to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Besides, if the enemy does find out, they'll still think I'm pinned down here in the village with a team."

"But like _this?"_His motioning made it clear to the pair of nins waiting that 'this' was apparently all of her, which in turn only confused them further.

"And you even said we can't possibly keep it a secret forever." The blond kunoichi added. "Beneath the beneath, Jii-san."

Sarutobi let a labored sigh slip. A curious Kakashi inserted himself into their side conversation, pointing at their newest team member. "You look somewhat familiar."

"I've seen her before, too." Yugao confirmed, sizing the woman up. The long, blond pig tails stretching down her back were ringing all sorts of bells in her brain, but was unable to pinpoint where they were originating from.

"I'm sure you have," The Hokage grumbled as he returned to the seat behind his desk. His attention returned to the pair. "Her presence here is an S-class secret in itself. I'll allow her to explain the details, but she will be instrumental if your mission is to succeed."

Both nins turned to the grinning girl and Kakashi lead the way. "Miss...?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki…" She replied. Kakashi blinked. Yugao did as well, though her reaction was largely concealed by her mask as the young woman's appearance suddenly clicked. "…And we'll be kicking some ass together."

* * *

**Author's notes-**  
Had this about half finished when ch1 was released. Hopefully it sates some of the rampant speculation that I encountered going in. Don't worry, I get around to explaining most of it... Just not right away ;) Expect Ch3 to take a bit longer since I don't have anything preloaded for it.

**Where's Naruko? **_I can't find Naruko. You listed her but she's not there. FOR GOD'S SAKES, MAN, WHERE'S MY SWEET NARUKO?_

**Matches;** _Definitely no creepy 26yr old Naruto and 13 yr old genin of your choice ships._

**Team Six; **_No idea. Never listed or addressed in canon, so call it author's license._

**ICWUTUDIDTHERE** Materia Blade ;)  
No, really. He's a nice guy.


End file.
